If only the Premier League could sanction a 100 metre dash between the country's fastest players...

Football fans have always had a fascination with finding out which players are faster than others with Hector Bellerin, Jamie Vardy, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Leroy Sane amongst the quickest.

That's not to mention players from other leagues as well with Kylian Mbappe, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo displaying their pace week in, week out.

Occasionally, these sprinters in disguise unintentionally race one another during games but it happens very rarely and the chance of that aforementioned 100m competition remains slim.

So, for many, EA Sports' FIFA game series has always proven an interesting source of knowledge when it comes to the fastest players in world football.

Fastest players in FIFA 19

Gamers are all-too aware of how important pace can be in FIFA Ultimate Team in particular and EA assign every player in the game a rating out of 100 for pace.

The fastest players in the game change from year to year and now with the release of FIFA 19 fast approaching, the briskest cards are now public.

EA released their list of the top 20 fastest players on Friday with the final ten reading: Sadio Mane, Kekuta Manneh, Kingsley Coman, Aubameyang, Jurgen Damm, Sane, Douglas Costa, Bale, Mbappe and Adama Traore.

YouTuber devises ultimate speed test

Interesting indeed and bound to cause debate amongst football fans, but that's just the ratings, how does their pace translate into the gameplay?

Well, YouTuber TFVGaming has devised a pace/speed test within the game to reveal who the fastest player really is and their tournament format makes it even more intriguing.

The players were timed on a straight sprint from penalty area to penalty area in the game's arena and - crucially - they all had the ball at their feet.

Take a look at the competition tree beforehand:

The likes of Raheem Sterling, Bellerin, Lionel Messi, Coman and Jordi Alba were all dispelled in the first round with only eight remaining.

Traore, Bale, Ronaldo, Mbappe, Sane, Mohamed Salah and Costa made the quarter-finals.

However, the final eventually came down to a straight shootout between Sane and Mbappe with the major shock seeing Traore lose his respective race.

Despite having the highest pace rating in the game (96) the test seems to show that his pace didn't necessarily translate on the pitch.

Victory for Kylian Mbappe

In the end, the winner was Mbappe who - although boasting another 96 rating - is ranked lower down in EA's list and only narrowly defeated Sane.

Take a look at the full video below:

Judging by the results of the test, you have to say that EA have nailed their ratings here.

Football fans were blown away by Mbappe's electric pace during the World Cup with his speed particularly on display during the win over Argentina.

Although, it is useful to note that Ronaldo actually recorded the fastest speed in Russia but couldn't overcome the Frenchman when it came to FIFA.

Sane is a more than worthy runner-up, too, with the Manchester City man having clocked the highest top speed in Premier League history last season.

So, FIFA fans will have to invest in the players who made it far in the speed test if they want to get that speed advantage in the game this year.

The amount of quality in the fastest players might make that an expensive venture, mind.

Who do you think is the fastest player in world football? Have your say in the comments section below.